SBS 2003 and beyond

1. Now is the time to prep the domain for the 2008 Server which if you was migrating from a SBS 2003 Server you would put the SBS 2008 DVD in and run the Migration Prep Tool and do these steps. Well this is not a SBS 2003 Server so you would open a command prompt browse to the DVD Drive and the Tools Folder and the ADPrep Folder. Then run adprep /forestprep and then once that completes give it a while and then run adprep /domainprep and then once that finishes you can just to be sure run adprep /domainprep /gpprep usually this will return you don’t need to run this.

2. Once that is all done it is time to run the Answer File Tool to create a answer file for the migration. You will be using a little USB Flash drive and what you do is plug this into your Source Server and then Browsing to Tools folder on the DVD and running the SBSAfg file. Usually I will select the attended install meaning uncheck the box that says run unattended just so I can verify the information as the migration starts. I also select to Migrate from existing server (join existing domain) and to download Updates. You can select unattended but you need to be darn sure you have all your information correct. One thing to be aware of is where it asks for the Certificate Authority Name do not put the name of your email domain i.e. mail.whatever.com. Leaving it blank is acceptable or Company Name CA or whatever you feel like just not your domain name so leaving this blank is good. So once you are sure everything is the way you want it save your Answer File to the USB Flash drive.

3. Now is the time to start the install of the SBS 2008 by booting your new server to the DVD and you do not have to have your USB Drive plugged into the destination server at this point. Some servers will try and boot to the USB drive if you have it plugged in so it is best to leave it out until it is time for it to be plugged in. which is after the second server reboot if I remember correctly. If you miss this and the server goes to the new install without reading your USB Drive. Hit cancel reboot the server with the USB Drive in and away you go. That is why I select to do a attended install so I can watch what is happening plus to verify the customer info. You can configure you hard drive partitions before or during the SBS 2008. On the HP servers we have the option to configure the Partition sizes during the boot process and it will depend on what you are using for a server and RAID Controller if you can do this before or not. MS recommends a 60 Gig C Drive size I say 100 Gig.

4. Also be sure in the BIOS of your server you have the time and date set correctly before installing.

You then would follow along with the Documentation from Microsoft on a SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration paper, the steps for walking though the whole migration is on this. Basically what it boils down to is you can use the SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration doc you just cannot use the Source Tool to Adprep your domain on the 2003 Server and you use the install DVD to Prep your forest and domain. I would really suggest if you have not been testing this that you do 10 to 20 migrations in your test lab to get yourself ready for this as it is a whole new way of migrating. Also if you do not want to remove the old server it can run as a DC in the domain after the SBS 2008 server is on the domain and has all the Roles moved to it. This is only true with a Standard 2003 Server and not SBS2003

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Roger - I appreciate the info. Thus far, you are the first i have found that has attempted this. And it's exactly what I need to do.
I have done all the adprep - all good there. I'm having a problem joining the new server to the domain. Tested from a Vista machine and was able to join the domain using the NetBios name, but not the FQDN. As you know, the SBS 2008 Migration process forces you to use the FQDN to join the domain. Do you have any clue what I can look for to get around or fix this problem? I have been beating my head against the wall looking for DNS issues and have been coming up with nothing...
Thank you kindly,
Tim

Tim did you get through this? I know my attempt went really well and better than expected. You are using the answer file correct? On the migration to SBS 2008 you need to use the Answer file for this to work correctly.
Roger

Yes - I was able to get the server to join the domain. Thanks. I have a new problem now though. When I try to promote the SBS 2008 server to a domain controller it fails as soon as it tries to copy the first file - sbsntds.dit. Seems like it's trying to copy it from a SBS 2003 server. Unfortunately, the current DC is 2003 Standard (not SBS). Any clues there? Thanks in advance!

You are using the Answer File on the SBS 2008 Destination Server? You have to do this just like you would for a SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration. Create the Answer file and then install SBS2008 using the answer file Or am I missing the point.
Roger

ADPrep Domain
Create Answer file
Start Install of SBS 2008 and use the answer file and it will join the domain and all that through this process.
I should ask is your domain domainname.local or something like this or is it just domainname and no .local or .com
Roger

When I try to create the answer file from the source server it fails since there is no Exchange. It does contain data, but it must be missing something crucial. Also - The problem I have joining the domain is this: I can join an XP system using the FQDN or the NETBIOS name of the server. However, I can only join the domain on a VISTA or Server 2008 using the NETBIOS name - not the FQDN. The Answer File only allows use of the FQDN (that's where my initial problem occured). I was able to Ctrl+Alt+Del and start the task manager to get around the domain join issue. Now I'm stuck on the DCPROMO - the first file it tries to copy from the source is "sbsntds.dit" and it cannot find that on the source and fails. Adprep has been run on the source server (several times to be sure). About to try starting from scratch to see if I have any better luck. Will keep you posted. Please advise if you have any suggestions. Thank you.

You have browsed to the DVD to the tools folder and you get this error when running the SBSAfg.exe file? All's this tool does is generate the xml file that is to be used for the setup on the migration and don't care if Exchange is there or not. Or are you running the Source tool getting that error? That would be true if yes on that.
Roger

Roger,
This is a great post, thanks for doing it.
What did you do after the install of SBS08 when you say "follow along with the documentation", but in the documentation the second thing it says to do is run the migration wizard, but the migration wizard doesn't work when the source server is standard 2003 and not an SBS server?
Did you just use the instructions to manually go through the steps the wizard does?
To be clear, I ran the utility to create the answer file, installed SBS08 with the answer file, it is now a DC & GC for the existing domain and I was able to move a mailbox form EX03 standard to the Ex07.
TIA-
-Joel
Joel
I just did the manual steps that the wizard would have you do. A lot of the Wizard is telling you what to do manually anyway for the different steps. I will go back and clarify that on my post on this.
Roger

Great information, thanks for saving me so much time! I do have one question though.
Are you still able to keep the Source server online after the migration? I'm wanting to add an sbs2008 server to an existing 2003 domain with two 2003 Standard servers in it. I'm guessing I can use your procedure to add the sbs2008 server to the domain and keep the "source" server online afterwards?
The answer would be yes as it is not a SBS 2003 server then those DC's can stay. The SBS 2008 server just has to have all the FSMO Roles on it which should be transfered in the migration setup anyways.
Roger

Hi Roger,
Thanks for sharing your info. It really helped us through this process.
I do have a question, after migration, my users and groups of the old domain are only visible when I use the normal AD users and computers.
The sbs console isn;t showing anything,
Any idee on solving this ?
Thanks Maikel
Glad it helped and yes this solution is very simple. In your SBS 2008 Console go to Users and then over to the right you will see "Change User Role for user accounts" select this and then this will start a wizard. Select Standard User and "Replace User Permissions or Roles" hit next here you will see the users on your SBS 2008 Server but if you check the box that says "Display all user accounts in AD" this will show you your users you are looking for. You highlight the ones you want and add them and the wizard will do the rest. You will have to do this for the ones you want as Standard users and also again for the ones you want to have Administrative permissions. Also if you are wanting your computers and Servers to showup in their respective lists you add these to the SBS Computers and Servers OU's respectively and then they will showup in your SBS 2008 console.Hope this helps
Roger

Hi Roger,
Thanks for you vast reply.
After leaving my comment, I searched further and found the same answer at the migration doc. (sorry for asking in advance). There I also found the solution for adding groups through ansi edit.
Nevertheless I am still very pleased with your documentation.
One addition to your story. My first attempt failed because of a the fact I didn't use a strong password on my AD recovery administrator account.
Greetings Maikel (syscare, typing error in creating account :-) )

Hi Roger
I followd your articles step by step and i got to some deadend.
after the first migration test which completed with issues i now run into the same error over and over again. after the migration process start i recieve an error says " DcPromo_JoinDomain: The server was not promoted to a domain controller."
i checked over the web and made shure that i have all permissions and never disconnected the NIC like most people say they did.
if anyone went trough this problem and found a solution please write back.
TNX
Shlomi
Couple of things here was AD Clean on the Source Server i.e. no AD Errors anything like that. Was DNS on the source server working correctly and did you have itself as the Primary DNS on the NIC and no Forwarders or outside DNS Servers defined on the server? Did you have the domain and forest at 2003 Levels? On your Source Sever you had any VPN that might have been set on the server turned off? Single NIC or Dual?
Roger

I've got two DC's in the network I'm inserting the 2008 SBS server into. One's running Exchange (2003 in Native Mode), and the other one has all the FSMO roles. Which is the source server for purposes of the answer file?

Please remember before even starting this backup backup backup. Make sure everyting is backed up. ZThat is one of the items to be sure of on a SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration and holds true for this also.
Roger

This is excellent information. Using it, I successfully migrated a Windows Server 2003 with Exchange 2003 to SBS 2008 in an afternoon without any problems. It went very smoothly.
I realize this post is Windows Server 2003 (sans Exchange) to SBS 2008, but if you need to migrate Exchange it's not much additional work.
In our case, we had two Windows Server 2003 DCs in a forest/domain (one equipped with Exchange 2003) and and we wanted to migrate everything to a single SBS server. Here's some tips:
1) Before starting, if the existing Administrator password is simple, make it complex! SBS will require a complex password and not already having that on the existing forest/domain will cause the migration to fail.
2) As Roger indicated, make very sure you have the latest service packs applied on the xisting servers.
3) Make very sure that Active Directory is clean, able to replicate and doesn't have any lingering objects or other junk.
4) Configure the target server BIOS so that it CAN NOT boot from a USB drive. None of the documentation makes clear when the USB drive will be scanned for the answers file, so you need to have it plugged in at least from the first restart. If the USB drive is not there when the wizard requires it, you may have to start SBS installation over again. By configuring BIOS to make the USB non-bootable, you can leave it in during the entire process and not have to worry about timing it right.
5) Once the SBS Console appears, the migration wizard can't proceed further because it only works with SBS servers. However, the heavy lifting is all done by then. You can use the Exchange console to manually migrate mailboxes, move files, etc. as you normally would for any server upgrade.
6) By default, Exchange 2007 requires authentication for incoming SMTP sessions and this may cause incoming e-mail to be rejected with "530 5.7.1 Client was not authenticated (in reply to MAIL FROM command))". The fix is simple: in the Exchange Management Console, click on Server Configuration, Hub Transport and double-click on the default receive connector to view it's properties. Click the Permissions Group tab, enable the Anonymous Users option and save the changes.
Ken

Roger,
Thanks heaps for this tutorial great help, I have one problem tho, I have server 2000 and a server 2003 running, I have the functional level at windows 2000 native but i can't change to windows 2003 native because of the server 2000 computer. I am not sure of the steps I need to take to remove the server 2000. Do you know how to remove it or some tutorial i can use?
Regards
Matt.

Thank you for a great guide.
But I run into problem and hope that someone know how to solve it.
After running sbs2k8 installation and the server starts for the first time and SBS Console shows. It show "View installation issue" with errors in the console logg refering to "Message: Cannot open database "SBSMonitoring" requested by the login. The login failed."
What did go wrong and how can I solve it? Apperently I need to fix the problem and re-run the installation. But what is it to fix?
I hope someone have any ideas.
//Patrick

Patrick I seemed to recall a while back a update that caused this to happen but I am not for sure. So you went through the migration and when the new SBS 2008 Server came up to the desktop this is what you see. IS the Service for the Database piece running? Logs saying anything? Have you tried looking on the MS SBS newsgroups as this is a new one for me.
Roger

Ok, here is what I did.
1. Prep. 2k3 server
2. Answer file
3. Started 2k8 server install with answer file.
4. At first start up SBS 2k8 "SBS Console" starts with Install Issue
Replication of Domain data are made, 2k8 are now DC along with the 2k3. And EX03 are replicated with EX07 on the new server. I do not have any SQL running on the old server.
About the update, it would be something to test. Just trying to find out wich one :-)
i have not found anyting about this problem (google/bing...) or on MS SBS newsgroups.
If someone have any url or solutions please post.
//Patrick

Problem solved!
The thing was that the old server was a SBS 2003 Std and the new one was SBS 2003 Premium. When I installed the new server as a standard and when the migration was compleded updated to Premium everything ended up good.
So migration from sbs 2003 or 2003 std without SQL will not work to a SBS 2008 Premium with SQL.
//Patrick

Hi Roger,
Good stuff!...Let me tell you about my delema...
Backup WinServer2003 (source) and its exchange.
Created answer file...and ran the source setup
moved the mem stick to destination
Booted SBS2008 installation initiated the migration process
first issue...domainname...not .com but .local
the next issue was a list of adjustments required to complete migration...forest and two or three others with instructions...which when followed worked...EXCEPT one...updates...it was telling me that source server wasn't up to the minimums ie. sp1...it is beyond, sp2.
Checking the web...introduced to the five part sp1 downloads...tring each...they responded "version installed is newer...canceling instalation
Thats where the migration waits...the clients are a 24/7 operation...so I have to pick my times to accomplish this task with little effect to the work that pays me.
The only hardware issue on the new server (Quad core/8gig/2-500Gdrive) was two Drives hooked up as C:, D: installing to C:.
My only plan so far... is to start the migration over from scratch, this time mirror the drives first (forgot first time). The drives are in a Hotswap enclosure.
Its the update issue on the source server that has me stumped, following the instructions all required versions are at or above minimums, 'check again' repeats that it dosn't meet the minimums and that sp1 is needed, it's at sp2+, no critical or recommended is reported with windows update or microsoft update.
Any Ideas's
Thanks in advance.
Ted
From the great white north

Guys!
im losing it here. I followed the migration docs to the T, with few exception (im going from 2003 std to 2008 SBS), in any event, im on the 4th reload of the destination server. It completes with the error everyones talking about, failed update.. but the BIG issue is, i do not get the MIGRATE Wizard OR the START the MIGRATION page. ANy ideas on this one??
Rich

The solution to the wizard not seeing that the source is up to date is faking it out.
insert the sp1 line in the registry (the sources) and then "check again"
in my case the migration proceeded to a successful conclusion
the Exchange migration went well except...some of the old server web access pointers were migrated rather than being updated..iis manager exchange properties on new server
Take Care
Ted

I have (somewhat) successfully migrated a Windows 2000 domain with 3 DC's and 1 2k3 DC running at a Windows 2000 domain functional level.
Now after trudging through a bundle of issues. I have SBS running but there doesn't seem like there is any real "SBS" AD structure, like within ADUAC. Also, I too am getting the "Windows sbs console is not setup correctly" but when I run the "Change user role for user accounts" wizard it simply crashes with an event name "CLR20r3". Has anyone else experienced this by chance?
Thanks

This didn't seem to work. I am getting errors attempting to configure exchange during the internet connection wizard "windows sbs did not properly configure your email". Is the AD structure supposed to be created on this type of migration? Like the mybusiness folders, etc? Thanks again Roger!

I was able to fix the CTIW Exchange issue by simply going to Add/Remove programs and selecting "Change" on Exchange 2007 and essentially reparing/reinstalling. I also read that this issue can be resolved with simply creating a default receive connector via the exchange 2007 console.
P.S. - My apologies Roger I just noticed "part-4" at http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/sbs/standard-server-2003-migration-to-sbs-2008-part-4/ which was your response to my original issue. Unfortunately it wasn't that simple of a resolution for me but I will keep pluggin! The add users role wizard is still crashing, after successfully running the CTIW.

Just to update:
The issue was related to a dcpromo error I received during the initial migration. I decided to start afresh after resolving some group policy delegation issues. The migration is finishing up right now and I can already see the "correct" SBS AD schema has been created in my existing directory.
I think things are going to go much smoother now. :)

Just followed this guide and migrated Windows Server 2003 Standard R2 to Windows Small Business Server 2008. Everything worked perfectly. Thanks for the guide.
One question: I'm keeping the Server 2003 Standard as a domain controller. Should it be left as a Global Catalog server as well? Will this affect SBS as a GC? Should I leave that to SBS server?

Hello Roger
(posted incorrectly to sbs2003 migration earlier...sorry i am performing a std server 2003 to sbs2008 migration...)
Thanks for this very infomative article. I have been working on two test servers to verify the process before doing this for a client. But i hit a road block early on. After following steps to prepare 2003 server, creating the answer file, and then running the SBS 2008 Install i get to the point where it utilizes the Source and Destination information to join the domain, and i get the “Cannot connect to the domain - verify that the domain name and logon credentials are correct” error. I hit ctrl-alt-del and opened a cmd prompt i can ping the original server by ip, servername, and FQDN
Any thoughts on how to get around this?
Thanks Again
Rich

I made a slight mistake when performing my migration. I attempted to migrate two Windows 2003 servers - one with Exchange 2003 - to SBS 2008. I did not put Exchange 2003 into Native mode. Although malboxes and users migrated to SBS, I get a "Exchange Seerver 2007 cannot be installed" in my installation issues window.
Is there anyway to fix this short of restoring my old server and doing the mifgration again? Thanks!

Roger... Thanks for this info! I'm trying the installation and all worked well except that I have an "installation issue" stating that "Exchange 2007 cannot be installed". I tried to Add/Remove (Change) and there was only 1 role (Transport) installed. I checked off the other 3 but then it said that necessary files in C:Program FilesWindows Small Business ServerBinCMPNENTSEXCHSVR80... didn't exist. Indeed, this folder doesn't exist.
And I'm going from WS2003 to WSBS2008, used an answer file, and looks like AD is fine... SBS2008 box has all FSMO roles.
Any ideas?

opps just made the same mistake as Rich (posted to wrong item) and got the same error
“Cannot connect to the domain - verify that the domain name and logon credentials are correct”
Spent 3 hours trying to solve it now. Triple checked everything :-(

having an issue here, ran:
adprep /forestprep
adprep /domainprep
adprep /domainprep /gpprep
couldn't run the source tool like it said
created the answer file
started the migration wizard
got to the Source and Destination server and it keeps telling me "verify that the source server name is correct, and then try again"
The source name is correct.
Any idea?

Marley1,
I had this same issue. Using ctrl+shift+esc I opened up task manager. From there I went to File->New task and typed "cmd" to open up command prompt. I found that I could ping the fqdn (server01.contoso.com) of the server but not the server name (server01) by itself.
I then used the File->New task to open up notepad (just type "notepad"). From there I opened up the hosts file in c:windowssystem32driversetc. (Note: you will have to change the file type to "all" from ".txt" I made a static entry in the hosts file to point to my source server. I verified that I could ping said server in command prompt again and then restarted the wizard.

Very usefull article Roger,
However, I am trying to migrate a Windows 2003 R2 DC to SBS 2008 and I have 2 problems.
1. My domain name is just LAZMARM, no .local or .com. In the creation of the migration answer file this is indicated as an error. Is it ok to continue?
2. (and most important). My source server has 2 network cards paired with one IP: 192.128.128.4. It runs DNS, DHCP. My default gateway is an ISA server with IP 192.128.128.9. The new server will have the IP 192.128.128.5. I use all the above on the answer file. During the installation, after the check for the time, it goes to a screen showing the proper network configuration and it says that the Server IP in an internet IP and it cannot continue.
I did an alt-ctrl-del , went to Task Manager, opened cmd, and did ipconfig. The server got an IP from DHCP (IP 192.128.128.38, mask 255.255.255.0, gateway, 192.128.128.4). However, I cannot continue with migration.
Any idea?
Thx in advance
Nikos

Roger - appreciate the article. However had a couple issues. When I ran the Tools - adprep, it failed. Ended using the Adprep in Source. That worked and everything updated. I have Exchange installed and I caught your note, so I changed to Native mode. System installed and came up with the migration wizard and it is stopped at
Source server does not meet minimum requirements for migration
red circle and x - Run the Migration Prep Tool on the Source Server.
The only thing I can figure that I didn't do was install the KB update to extend SBS 2003 for 21 days while SBS 2008 id running.
Any idea?
Thanks,
Michael

Easeincny - I had the same issue. Here's what I did to continue the migration process.
I did the adprep commands as listed and it all passed. I started the migration and got stopped with the "Run the Migration Prep Tool on the Source Server" error. I went back to the source server, inserted the dvd and ran the D:toolsSourceTools.MSI. It installed just fine. Went back to the destination server and it continued. Hope that helps.

Has anyone tried to do the migration with another Standard 2003 server on the network in plae as a DC? I will run the migration against the source server that is the FSMO role holder for the domain, obviously, I am not certain how things are going to behave with another DC in the existing domain.

HI there
I am in the process of doing exactly this, but I have an issue. The servers will be and are on a public network ip scheme. It is 206.95.54.x and I cannot get past the searchr router.
Is there a way , even with a single nic only enable to use public ip's rather then private. If I switch the server 2003 to private , i know it will kill dhcp and dns for all existing clients. I also think it will cause foreseeable issues to swap to private just for the migration and then switch back to public after the migration.
I can see dhcp breaking with dns on the sbs2008 after the migration is all done.
Any suggestions , aside from re doing the whols network , as it is just under 50 workstations, thus the reason for the migration .

I have still the erroe Message: Run the Migration Prep Tool on the Source Server during the SBS 2008 installation. I allready
ran adprep for the forest & domain
installed the Source tools
did not help!!! Keeping ask me to install the mig.prep.tool!
Any idea...
THANKS
Mike

Hi, Thanks for this document. the migation is done. everything is fine.
How do I tell SBS that the migration is now over? As it was not possible to go through the server migration wizzard in the sbs console.
thanks again.
mike

[B]Guxx[/B], thanks a lot for that, very helpful as I had the same issue and the article said not to run Migration Tool on source server.
I guess only run it if encounter the same issue "Run the Migration Tool" during SBS2008 install in migration mode.
Roger, thanks so much for the info and the effort!

Thank you very very much for this guide! =)
I´ve only ran into the problem with “Run the Migration Prep Tool on the Source Server”
I checked the log on the new server:
SHIFT+F10 to open a comand prompt and then do the following: NOTEPAD "C:Program FilesWindows Small Business ServerLogsSBSSetup.log"
It seemed to have a problem reading a registry entry on the source server.
I was able to work around it by manually creating the registry keys on the source server that the SBS 2008 setup process was complaining about. Here is what worked for me:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftSmallBusinessServerMigration]
"MigrationReady"=dword:00000001
"LastCheckTime"="2010-06-17"

I think there was a formatting error in my last post, I´ll try with the "code"-feature":
[/CODE]
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftSmallBusinessServerMigration]
"MigrationReady"=dword:00000001
"LastCheckTime"="2010-06-17"
[CODE]

Hey Roger, I'm not sure why the sourcetool cant be used.
I have already started my migration and had been following the guide from microsoft for SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 when I finally found your guide.
I was very worried until i checked the SourceTool.log file. It runs each of the commands in the same order that you have listed so I'm not sure what the issue is with running it instead of doing it manually....
I'll let you know how it goes...

Well when I got to the migration part it gave me an error saying that the domain was not at Server 2003 functional level but that was one of the first things I did. I verified it a few times and even rebooted the server as well.
So then I thought maybe the sourcetool was the problem so I went to manually adprep and after each command it said it had already been run.
In the end I just checked off the box to acknowledge the issues and continued on... fingers crossed!

I know this is an old post, but hopefully those with experience are still reading/responding to it. There hasn't really been any estimate on time to complete. More important, I need to know the "down time" for the client. The opportunity to work after hours or weekends for this specific client is small due to physical security.
In reading through this blog and the MS SBS 2008 migration doc, it's not clear when users should be offline from the source server. For instance, during prep with the adprep commands - does that need to be done with downtime? What about raising the functional level, does that require downtime? How about during the actual install/migration process, as it runs the answer file and pulls from the source server changing FSMO roles, etc - does that required downtime? If so for any of these, what is the typical timeframe they need to be disconnected?
Thanks!

Nube Here...
Had a problem where lan had public ip addresses internally. Walked into situation.
Sbs 2003 to Sbs 2008 will not migrate on public ip's. Here is how I did it thanks to a post on this page from
Againstdemons > I had this same issue. Using ctrl+shift+esc I opened up task manager.
Here are my untidy notes.
First Problem:
Migration using internal Public IP addresses
First get past windows that asks for private ip addresses by assigning source server secondary ip address
before source
200.200.200.100
before destination
200.200.200.99
After source
192.168.1.100
200.200.200.100
After destination
192.168.1.99
Got past this first screen.
Then on destination server press ctrl-alt-del
Start task manager.
click new task and type control
in control panel, go to network and set ip address to etc. 200.200.200.99
set gateway etc. 200.200.200.254
dns servers were listed as 192.168.1.100 as primary and 192.168.1.99 as secondary.
I set them as 200.200.200.100 as primary adn 200.200.200.99 as secondary.
I then opened a cmd prompt and went to c:windowssystem32driversetc and edited the hosts file and added
200.200.200.100 (source name) Source name is the name of your server.
This way I could pint "sourcename" and "sourcename.domainname.local" as well.
The source and destination screen let me pass.
Second Problem:
Verify domain and user account error.
Windows 2008 requires on installation an 8 character password with 3 of the 4 Microsoft criteria. Upper,lower, numbers, special characters.
My current source server's administrator account was 3 of the 4 criteria but it was only 7 characters.
I went to source server, chose a different account, gave it Enterprise Admins, Domain Admins and Schema Admins rights and set the password to an 8 character 3/4 Microsoft criteria.
Now my migration is chugging along.
Hope this helps someone else as this site saved my day and probably my night as well.
Thanks,
Randell

Addendum to last post.
After destination server initiated reboot, ip addresses went back to private 192.168.1.99. After 30 minutes of blue bar not moving did the same ctrl-alt-del and went to task manager. Ran the control looked at network settings. Change back to my public ip of 200.200.200.99 and it started to move and completed in appropriate time. Will keep posted on other changes. This is being type while it is happening.

Hey Roger not sure if this blog is still active but i sure hope it is. First of all thanks a lot for the document it is great and one of very few out there.
Now my problem. I have the same problem as Shloga above. DcPromo_JoinDomain: The server was not promoted to a domain controller.”
He never replied so i am not sure what his solution was. I have tried all of the once you suggested. The DNS is pointing to itself and i have removed all forwarders. I have done a number of checks, logs and even a MS utility that inspects the health of your AD and all came back fine. There is no VPN on the server as they are using the one on their router. There are two NIC's but one of them is disabled. After the answer file failed i went and manually added the server to the AD as a memeber server and had no issues with that however when i run DCpromo it gets to the end and tells me that the server could not be promoted because it is not found in the AD however i do see it in AD and it is there. One thing to mention the adprep commands were done before i was called in and not told about any of this so when i ran the ad comands it came back with the message that they were already run and did not run again. Now i am not sure but could they have been run incorrectly.
At this point i have been at it for a week and starting to loose eye sight. Please let me know any suggestions would be more than welcome.
Predrag

I am having an issue. I followed everything and created answer file to install. However when trying to migrate I get error message that states the Source Server does not meet minimum requirements for migration and states I need to run the Migration Preparation Tool on the Source Server. However you mention that I cannot run this on the Windows 2003 Server. Help !!

I was glad to find this blog, but I have a number of questions. I am looking to transition from an Server 2003/Exchange 2003 to SBS 2008. The SBS 2008 is running and has been for a while, so this is an old install. All the client wants to move is the Exchange server. Ideas on how to do that?

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About This Blog

This blog covers the everyday problems and fixes I encounter with Small Business Server 2003 and SBS 2008. I also look at Windows Server 2008, mainly with TS Gateway, Published Applications, Terminal Services and Hyper-V.